“Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress” is a fantastic introduction to one of the most complex games ever made. Reviewers have described it as a “must have for new players and a great read for old ones” and as “your single best resource for learning Dwarf Fortress”. The book guides you through the process of creating a world, establishing your first fortress and then how to productively manage your dwarves, the military, industry and engineering. By the time you’ve finished this book you will be a confident Dwarf Fortress player and you will have had some fun too!

At O’Reilly.com you can pick the book as an eBook or, paperback or both for a great discount. The book is also available on Amazon and other retailers. If you buy your eBook through O’Reilly you will automatically be subscribed to lifetime book updates for free. As Dwarf Fortress changes I will be updating the book and O’Reilly customers will be alerted and able to download the book for free. “Getting Started with Dwarf Fortress” will never be out of date!

If you have bought the book from somewhere else you can register your copy on O’Reilly.com and for $5 gain access to the lifetime book updates.

For those interested, here’s the chapter list:

Foreword by Tarn “Toady” Adams

Preface

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Playing God

Chapter 3: First Steps

Chapter 4: Filling Dwarf Bellies

Chapter 5: Merchants and Trading

Chapter 6: Dwarf Resource Management

Chapter 7: Digging Deeper

Chapter 8: Industry

Chapter 9: Justice, Healthcare and Vampires

Chapter 10: The Military

Chapter 11: Engineering

Afterword: Farther

Appendix

The book is 238 pages and 80,000 words. It features nine full-page illustrations and a half-dozen diagrams by Tim Denee. The illustrations are based on stories from Dwarf Fortress submitted by players on the forum. You can see one to the left. If you buy the book, I hope you enjoy it! And please, feel free to let me know if there are any problems with the book. I’ll be updating it, after all!

“This is the single most valuable asset I’ve found in trying to learn Dwarf Fortress” – thebrassthief, Reddit

“It is definitely a good book and fills a gap that the Wiki can’t provide. I had been reading the wiki for a while. But once I got this book it gave me a quick and very useful introduction to aspects of the game I hadn’t yet even begun to deal with. I would recommend it to anyone who isn’t an experienced DF player.” – rjcroy, Reddit